In this sermon, the preacher discusses a news story about a 14-year-old boy who filed charges against his 81-year-old substitute teacher for reprimanding him. The preacher expresses frustration with the current state of society and suggests that the judge should have ordered the boy to be spanked. The sermon then transitions to the topic of walking worthy of one's calling in the Lord and being proven worthy to enter the kingdom of God. The preacher emphasizes that individuals will be judged according to what they have been given and that they will be held responsible for their knowledge of God's will. The sermon concludes with a prayer and a reminder that God works with the few who truly seek Him.

I'll ask the Lord to help us. Lord, as we come unto you tonight, and as we praise and thank you, we just worship your holy name. And we have so much to be thankful for, Lord. There's so much to be thankful for. And Lord, I join my prayers with those that are here. Lord, with the burdens that they have, and the questions, and the quandaries, Lord, just hear and answer. Hear and answer, that your name may be glorified, that they may rejoice, and their joy may be full. Lord, help us bless those, Lord, that are ill among us tonight. Healing speedily, we pray in Jesus' name. Oh, God. Now, Lord, as we continue, we pray the Holy Spirit will lead us. And just exactly what he wants said, Lord. Just exactly what he wants said. Just where the need is, Lord. Just through your spirit. Just add Jesus, and we thank you, Lord, for your goodness. Amen. Okay. For those in Tape Land, 24 February 98, Tape 4078, Being Found Worthy, Recommended Reading, Judgment, and Rewards. True or false? The New Testament teaches us that we must walk worthy of our calling in the Lord, and that we must be proven worthy to enter the kingdom of God. True or false? Anybody say false? Sounds kind of obvious. But, do we have any scriptures that tell us? There's at least two that we've gone over. Do you have an opinion on that? Yeah. Don't ever be afraid to speak up in this class. We knock heads around. And always ask any question. Nobody gets their feelings hurt. Pardon? Yes, Barry. Okay. Now, in second, both of those, they're really good. And so often we hear people say, we're not worthy, but he is worthy. But, we have to be worthy of the kingdom. And second Peter, the first chapter, is especially strong because he says in there, he's talking about adding different kinds of virtue. Add this, and add that, and add the next thing. Then he says, if you do these things, you will never fall. What's the implication? You don't do them, you're in danger. And so there, Benny, read off some of those in second Peter. He says, second Peter one. That we can get a hold of. Add to your faith moral excellence. Virtue means moral excellence. Moral excellence. Living a clean moral life. What's the next one? Knowledge. Okay, by reading the Bible. Temperance. Self-control. Self-control. Okay. Temperance. Patience. Patience. Everybody needs that. We sure need that. And to patience, godliness. Godliness. Behaving like God. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. Okay. Being kind to one another. And to brotherly kindness, charity. Charity, which we don't use in giving to the poor, but that means love. Add these things. So we have to add them. By prayer. By seeking the Lord. You know, the more you read the scriptures, and I noticed that today, how did we ever get so far off track on this grace thing? Mike? In this particular reference, it is the mystery of godliness. It is the mystery. I noticed reading in Acts, in my devotions last night, that I was stunned with the way Paul, it's around the 26th chapter, was saying, I preached to the Gentiles, exhorting them to do works in line with repentance. Talking about people getting saved by validating their salvation by doing works in keeping with repentance. I mean, it's so plain. You know, it isn't like you have to reach for it, and then in Peter, and then like Barry said in Ephesians 4.1, I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation. Okay, the two that we labored over mostly, if you recall, one was in Revelation chapter 3. Remember, they shall walk with me in white. Remember that? For they are worthy. Which again, Revelation 3, verse 4. I mean, they have to be worthy. And then in 2 Thessalonians, in the first chapter, around verse 5, something like that, it says that they're suffering, the Thessalonians were suffering, that they may be found worthy of the kingdom. So, I mean, it's all over the place. And this idea that, you know, we're saved by grace and there's nothing we can do, is a massive blindness to what is actually written in the scriptures. Whoa! How we ever got this far off, I don't know. Larry? Verse 11 in 2 Thessalonians kind of puts a real cap on it. It says, to this end also, we pray for you always, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith and power. 2 Thessalonians in what chapter? Verse 1. Chapter 1, verse 11. So, it's a... Okay, any questions on that so far? Okay, so, if you're going to be a Christian, you've got to act like a Christian, talk like a Christian, think like a Christian, and look like a Christian. You can't just say, I have faith, and then not do anything. That's not scriptural. It's just not scriptural. Alright, question 2. What is the relationship between walking in white with Jesus, being found worthy in this present life, and the body we shall receive in the future day of resurrection? What's the relationship? Anyone want to take a stab? The body that we receive... Say it again, because you're astonishing the group, because... Well, you just say it again. Now, he's telling you the answer to that question. Just say that one again so they can hear it. The body that we receive in the resurrection will be... Well, I swear. Where did you learn that? How long have you been a Christian? Alright, now the mystery is cleared up. How did you get down here? Nobody but nobody teaches that but me. But that's absolutely the truth. Did you get that, Colleen? She got it. Alright. I was going to say, whoa, something's going on because I've never read that any place, and yet it's so clear in the scripture. Alright. So, we walk in white with Jesus, according to Revelation 3.5. Being found worthy in this present life, we have to be... He says they shall... Somebody read Revelation 3.5. "...shall not be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father." I guess I'm the only one who knows the first part. "...but you have a few people in charge of us who have not soiled their garments." Now, that's so important. That's so important because the teaching abroad in the land is there's nothing we do. Nothing. We're saved by faith alone and that's it, period. But there Jesus is saying that our walking with him in the white robes of the priesthood, we're supposed to be kings and priests, is conditional upon what? It's contingent upon what? Have you ever asked that again? Our walking in the white robes of the priesthood is contingent upon what? Are we found worthy? And how do you picture in your mind the Lord is looking for as far as worthiness is concerned? Can you think of anything by which the Lord would judge we are worthy? Specific behaviors. Because Colossians 3, 5 starts with the behaviors. But 1 through 4 is not mentioning behavior. Well, start with 5 and read 5 on. That will cut it. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity. Yeah, and then it goes on and on and on in that chapter talking about behavior. What else does it say? Let me just jump out to the first page. But you have also put it all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth. Yeah, that's part of it. One another since you have laid aside the old self. That's being fired. Because people, so many times, you know, it says that the leaven of the world, does anyone remember what Paul says the leaven of the world is? Malice and wickedness. Malice and wickedness. And you know there is an awful lot of malice in the world. Today, if someone gets fired, they're liable to come back with a gun. I mean it's getting fairly common. You don't fire me. And they come back, it's like people don't care whether they get put in prison or not. They seem to be creatures of the moment. I'm mad now, and you know, forget about spending six months down in county. They've never been down in county. They ought to go down and look at the county jail and see what it's like in downtown San Diego before they go doing something reckless. Because it ain't cute down there. It isn't cute down there, it's county. I'm telling you. Or you want to see it, a worse one, it's L.A. County. Oh Lord, what a place that is. I mean it's a mess even for a visitor. The poor dude's coming out behind the glass, and the glass is, you know, people are scratched all over and it's yellow and it's dirty and the whole thing is cruddy and everything is cruddy. I don't know, I can't vouch for this as truth, but I was told that all the water in L.A. County is recycled. Well, you know, what they drink mostly for their meals is Kool-Aid. And this is all recycled water being recycled through that system. And people in there with AIDS and every other thing. I mean, you need to think twice before you go to L.A. County jail. You just need to think twice. But people seem to be creatures of the moment. You know, I'm mad now, road rage. You know, I'll ram the other guy or shoot him or hit him with a tire iron or something. And so they take me away. So what? At least I... But they don't know what they're facing. Man. Is it getting a little cool in here? Is it too cold in here for us to get a little cool? It is. We can very quickly arrange it. Okay. So, what I'm getting at is this. That pressure, that demonic pressure for two things. Anger and unforgiveness is on us constantly. A burden to get angry and to lose control and to not forgive malice. Malice. In the workplace. I've had the guys in construction tell me about the problems that they have with malice. But you can find it in the colleges. You can find it in the judiciary. You can find it anywhere you go. And walking worthy is walking above that and not reacting to it. And that isn't easy. That is not easy when you're being treated unfairly. It is not easy. But the Lord insists on it. We've got to walk above it. If we have to spend two hours on our knees till we have calluses like a camel on our knees, we've got to do it. We've got to stay on top of it. And it's a daily thing. It's a daily thing. There's people who should have been here tonight but they won't. But they're not here and they needed that kick. And they'll have to blow it around Thursday. Because Sunday to Sunday doesn't do it. You've got to keep being reminded, hey, I've got to walk worthy. Hey, in the first resurrection, I've got to walk worthy. Hey. But they don't hear that. You hear it Sunday but by Thursday it's petered out. They're making a great mistake. I don't harp on people who come to church, as you know. But they're loose and I may have to mention that Sunday and tell them. Because this pressure for anger and lust and trust in money is a constant barrage on us. Barry? What you're saying takes me to first chapter 2 21. Because we're hearing we're even hearing too where you call because Christ also suffers a lot leading an example we should follow even with guile as it is now. And notice the guile. Our country is full of it. Full of it. Lying, shading the truth, outright lying and misrepresentation Lord, you can't do those things and be found worthy that you may walk worthy. And that's prayer, reading the bible, fellowshiping with the saints. I must address the church on that. I know times are getting worse. Every day you see something. Today in the paper was a 14 year old boy he has a substitute teacher who was in the class 81 years old and he disrupted the class and she reprimanded him and evidently touched him in some way and he fled to the principal and filed charges against her and the police came in and remonstrated with the boy and said cool kid he wouldn't do it so this elderly lady 81 years old substitute teacher had to appear in court to answer and talk about a frivolous thing 14 years old oh man by rights the judge should order him to be spanked that would be a proper thing but our society is just going that way it's just getting ridiculous okay are there any further questions okay well we're on the subject Larry if you want to get the board there for us let's turn to Revelation 19 and what we've been studying is not something you're going to see every day I mean we're breaking trail here in like all pioneering ventures you know there's a few hearty souls but then you're the ones that can buy up the real estate when it's 50 cents an acre in downtown Dallas that's the way that goes that's the blessing of being a pioneer others will come after us they'll be on the big broad highway after we cast the stones out you know alright so we do faithfully our job of pioneering alright so we're in Revelation 19 let's pay attention to the scripture and we'll be just fine Bill that coffee is out of sight it is out of sight it's like drinking a malt Guatemalan coffee huh? Is it Guatemalan tea white? I know it's a special brew they send oh man it's like a malt I'll tell you that it is so good alright alright Revelation 19 7 now this is the framework and I don't know I expect Ed's gone over this he may or may not have but it's very important and very practical even though it's somewhat new to us now let this represent the thousand year kingdom age I am putting a horizontal line on the board and 100 I am putting a thousand year kingdom age commonly called what? Millennium I don't like that because it's a rule of a lot of iron actually and so that doesn't quite fit the idea it's going to be an age of total peace but in any case you want to realize that this is a revelation that was given to John given to God to Jesus to John in the book of Revelation this thousand years I don't think it appears anywhere else in the Bible certainly not in the New Testament certainly does not appear anywhere in the New Testament except in Revelation and there's nothing in the old to say that there was going to be a break between the coming of Messiah and the New World the New Jerusalem there's no indication that there's a break there so this is a very special period that was revealed to John after God revealed it to Jesus and the Revelation starts off the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants and so this is very special the idea that the resurrection from the dead would be broken into two parts you can tell from reading Peter that he didn't even know that and certainly there's no indication of this in the Apostle Paul but Revelation is the only book that purports to be a direct revelation of God and it's bound with a curse you can't add to it so it preempts everything it subsumes everything under itself everything must be interpreted in the light of Revelation it doesn't contradict anything it just subsumes everything under itself so it says blessed are they that read the words of this prophecy so that's what we're doing so we're blessed now the idea is that of course as we've mentioned there's two resurrections this one here at the beginning I'm pointing to the left of the horizontal line there is when the Lord comes next that's here that kicks off the thousand year period but the resurrection of the dead when the Bible speaks of the resurrection of the dead it's talking about here it's talking about the end of the thousand years this is the time when the dead, small and great, stand before God now in evangelical teaching the teaching is that everyone here is saved and everyone here is lost I don't want to go into that tonight but the scripture will not bear that if that were true the great mass of mankind would be in the lake of fire and God has no intention of putting about everybody he's created in the lake of fire God has no intention of doing that so this is the resurrection in which people are either allowed into the new world or they are denied because they've been wicked enough they're judged according to their works they're wicked enough to be blotted from the book of life and the language the way it's worded in revelation 20 suggests that this is certainly a minority if anyone's name was not found there the implication is most people were there because God is not out to see how many people he can put in the lake of fire that's not God's business if you've got anything in you that God can work at and work up into something he'll do it you can't get sassy with God you can't play games with God but if you're some poor dude like that guy went down and beat his breast and said God be merciful to me a sinner Jesus said that man went to his house justified so God's out to see who he can save not who he can lose so that so the great mass of mankind will stand here before God Almighty actually who they'll be standing before is Christ and his saints on the great white throne because it's given to the saints to judge the world okay so he'll be all people will be standing before Christ and the overcomers those who were raised in the first resurrection for they are judges you'll notice in Revelation 20 verse 4 it says judgment was given unto them and 1st Corinthians 6 says that we will judge men and angels so Psalm 149 says speaking of the judgment of the world this honor have all his saints so the great white throne will be God the Father judges no one Jesus said God the Father judges no one he's committed all judgment to the son so on the great white throne here at the end of the thousand year period will be seated Christ and his overcomers his victorious saints okay is there any question about that yes Mike so Matthew 25 fits in the second judgment correct the sheep and goat yes I have come to that conclusion I used to think that the sheep and goat judgment would be at the beginning of the thousand years but it just naturally fits here it just naturally fits here it just doesn't fit at the beginning of the thousand year period too many contradictions in the scripture for that now what we're talking about in Revelation 19 starting with 7 is something else that's split in half it's something else that split in half and that is what the marriage of the Lamb right the marriage of the Lamb or the church and split in half I'm going to put marriage because that's what is accentuated but it's it's the church all right so it isn't like there's two separate weddings it's that the first marriage that appears in Revelation 19 is the It's altogether different from what you read over here, but they're both called the marriage of the Lamb. But this fit, the fact of the church here being divided into a first fruits of the church, and then the balance of the church is found in several major types in the Bible. Several major types, I'm not going to go into them now unless you want them for some reason, but you can take my word for it. One very prominent type is the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the tabernacle for many years. Many years. It was way, and then all through the reign of David, all through the 30 years that David reigned. It was the 30 or 40, whatever it was. The Ark of the Sea was 40 because he started when he was 30 and died when he was 70. I'm two years older than David was when he died. That's not interesting to anybody but me. I have to think I'm outliving all these guys. The Apostle Paul, David, I'm hot on the coattails in Methuselah here. All right, now, there are several major types. Of course, Gideon's army is the biggest type. The fact that the battle was won by a very small remnant. But the Ark of the Covenant was lost long before David was king. It was lost in the days of Eli, the priest. And then it was brought back from the land of the Philistines a short while after because God punished the Philistines with tumors. But it stayed outside of Jerusalem in the house of somebody or other. And remember, Uzzah tried to bring it back and that was a debacle. And then when David became king, he managed to get the Ark back. But David, moved by the spirit of prophecy, that's why it says in Revelation 3, I'll give you the key of David. David had the keys of the kingdom and whatever he did, God blessed. And so David, the Ark, the tabernacle of the congregation by that time, with all its labor and everything else, was at Gideon, which is 10 miles northeast, I think, of Jerusalem. And it was a high place, Gideon. And they moved it from Shiloh up there. And when David brought the Ark back, he didn't put it in the tabernacle. He just had an instinct. You know another instinct David had? You remember when he went up on the threshing floor of the Jebusite? The guy wasn't even an Israelite. It was a Jebusite. And David went up there because there was a curse on Israel. And he went up to the threshing floor, born in the Jebusite, there to offer up a sacrifice. That became the site of the temple. David just had that instinct for God. And he kept the Ark all through his reign, 40 years. The Ark was in Jerusalem, the tabernacle was 10 miles north, in the high place in Gideon. But David took the priesthood, I mean the big boys, Heman and Asaph and what was the other big guy? Zadok. Anyway, the major, I guess Zadok was it, but Heman and Asaph and some others. I mean the big singers of Israel, he cut it in half and put half of them in Gideon, at the tabernacle, and the other half at the Ark. He built a tent for the Ark, and an altar. And kept the Ark there and called it Zion. That's where the name Zion comes from. It's in the suburb of Jerusalem. There was no temple, you'll understand, during the life of David. There was just the Ark in Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem, and then there was the tabernacle outside of the city of Jerusalem, down the hill from Jerusalem and Gideon. And see that's massive, because if you're a student of the tabernacle, which is the greatest type in the Bible, it starts in Exodus 25 and goes all the way to the end of the book. It's all about the tabernacle. All those chapters are about the tabernacle. And in the Holy of Holies is what? The Ark. That's how you celebrate the Day of Atonement. You go in and sprinkle blood on the Ark. And to not put the Ark back in the tabernacle, David could have brought the tabernacle back just as easy as anything. And he left it there. And he kept the Ark like it was his private chest. And called it Zion. And had a big time over it. But in the meanwhile, the labor, and the altar of burnt offering, and the lampstand, and the table of showbread, and the altar of incense, were all in Gideon. And all of these represent, the altar of burnt offering represents salvation, and the labor represents water baptism, and the table of showbread represents being born again, and the lampstand is the baptism, and the altar is the consecration. And all of these were all by themselves. And here's the Ark. Separated. I mean, David should have been killed on the spot, and half of the Israelites went in for that. But God blessed him. Because David was moving in the spirit of prophecy. He was a prophet. And the spirit of Messiah was in him. And he was telling us something. He was telling us that God is going to go to his church, where people are getting saved, and getting the baptism, getting all those things, and I'm going to take out of it people that love God so much, they have to have his fiery presence. I'm going to separate out the fiery presence of God from all the rest of the Christian ministration. That's what he's doing today. That's exactly what he's doing. And they could observe all the rituals, save one. And what is that? The Day of Atonement. There's nothing to sprinkle blood on. The Holy of Holies was empty. Now, scholars believe that to make up for that, that the Jews moved the altar of incense in there, and this is brought out in Hebrews, where it has the altar of incense in the most holy place. If you'll notice in reading Hebrews, when you read about the tabernacle, but the altar of incense was this side of the veil when it was set up by Moses. It was not in the Holy of Holies. And scholars believe that it was moved into the Holy of Holies for that reason. But by the time the temple of Solomon came, when David died, and one of Solomon's first moves was to build a temple, and when he got it built, that was built at the threshing floor of Oron on the Jebusite, then he had the tabernacle brought from Gibeon stuck in there, the ark brought up from Zion stuck in there, and they came together. But the rule of Solomon is typified by the New Heaven and New Earth rule of Jesus. So that starts here at the end. So at this point, the two will come together again. This group that loves the fire of God and loves the presence of God and can't be content with gifts and can't be content with anything, they've got to have God! There's a group like that today. And when people hear the message wherever it's being preached in the world, where ministers are calling for God's best, people hear that and they choose. They know intuitively the demand is more than they wish to pay. And you can't force people. Of course, they won't be in the first resurrection, they won't be in that Zion company, but they make that decision, and I find that so hard. If I could, I would take them by the ears, you know, and I would say, Will you listen to me? This life is so short! And eternity is so long! And this is your one chance to ace this course! What is so valuable to you that you would turn back from this kind of light? See, once you turn back from light and have a woeful experience, if there's a woeful impact on your Christian experience, when you come into light and then come back from it, it's like coming up to the baptism and then saying, No, I don't want to speak in tongues, or even coming to salvation and saying, No, I can do it myself. Whenever you come into light and then you turn back from it, it has a kind of a woeful impact. I haven't seen anyone prosper that did that. It has a negative influence. The way to go with God is when God gives you light is to run into it. Run into it. You'll get more and you'll get more. First thing you know, you're on your way to the zenith. You're on your way to the top. And God loves that attitude. The other is kind of like Ruben Gad and the Half-Tribe of Manasseh. We've got cows. Oh, man, do we have cows. We've got thousands of the moo cows. So let us stay on the east side of Jordan. Go ahead over to the land. Please, let us stay here with our cows. I mean, there goes the priesthood. There goes the ark. There goes the glory of God. There goes everything worthwhile. And they want to stay there with their cows. But that's the way people are. They say, Well, there's my cows. What will I do without my cows? Go ahead. If you want to follow the Holy One of Israel, that's up to you. If I could unscrew the top of their head and just put in there some fire, I'd do it. But I can't. It has to come from within people. They have to say, Yeah, I've got to have more. And so David, with this very powerful type, and there are others, there's the three anointings of David and so on. He was anointed king over Judah seven and a half years before he was anointed king over all Israel. And you've got these major types, as I said, like Gideon and so on, that show this division of God's family. And it's going to be divided into those, well, you can see your firstfruits. It's there in Revelation 4.1. And where was the firstfruit standing? Revelation 14.1. Where were they standing? One kid, I said, Larry, jump over that barrier. Yeah. Revelation 14.1. They're standing on Mount Zion. And it's right there. And people say, Well, I don't believe in the firstfruits. Hey, Revelation 14. These were redeemed. These are the firstfruits. Firstpicking off the vine. To God and the Lamb. And they follow Him wherever He goes. Not everybody will follow the Lord everywhere He goes. Just these people that have such a passion for God that everything else becomes second. The Apostle Paul was like that. I count everything else garbage. These are the people that will be raised here. These are the people. You'll find there is no books opened in Revelation 20. There's no books opened there. These people have been judged during their lifetime. They're opened here. There's no books opened here. This isn't a resurrection of salvation. This is the resurrection of the priesthood. This is the resurrection of salvation at the end of the thousand years. This is the resurrection of the priesthood. These people are raised to rule with Jesus. Yes. They're on Mount Zion. Mount Zion represents the part of Jerusalem that has to do with war. When Jerusalem was first captured by David, the stronghold was Zion. That's where the Jebusites had their stronghold. At Zion. And David said, anybody that can go up there and take that, I'll make commander of my forces. You know who went up there? Joab. And he went up through the waterway. He crawled his way up through a water pipe. He got up there and knocked them all over the place. And David made him commander of his army. That's how Joab became commander. He took Zion. And Zion is... David loved it. David made it his city and built what's called the Molo around it as kind of a special walled off area that David had there. And that became his city. It was a city of war. And so the 144,000 are there. When you see in the book of Psalms, you see Zion, Zion, Zion. That's David. That's David's city. That's a suburb of Jerusalem. It's within Jerusalem, but it's a suburb. It's the place that stands for war. The camp of the saints. And so here you've got your 144,000 redeemed from the earth. Whether that's a literal number or not, I tend to doubt it. When you get into multiples of 12, you're usually into symbolism. That's 12 times 12 is 144,000. The scholars say it represents something. I don't know what it is. But anyway, it's the fullness of this firstfruits group. So, they're here, and by the time the rest of the church gets over here, then it's no longer as we see it portrayed here. Any other questions while we're going? This is a massive concept, and it's fairly new to the Christian church. I've never seen it in a commentary, but this would be old hat in 15 years. This is where God is going. He wants his people to know. See, they're all expecting to be raptured when Jesus comes. You know, it dawned on me the other day why ministers preach the rapture. It was made so clear to me. And these men have good hearts. I mean, these are called men. I'm not doubting them for one second. This is all they know and they preach it. But, we're entering into hard times. And when you say to people, it's okay because the Lord is coming to take us, it gives people something to look forward to that's happy. See, it gives them a happy prospect. It's like saying, don't worry about it. School's going to be out in another month. Just hang in there and your vacation is here. And I said, that's why it's so popular. And why ministers? I mean, they know the people. I mean, we've got the threat of war with Iraq. We've got the troubles in the White House. We don't know where the floods are going to come next, or the earthquake, or California is going to... I saw a cartoon that says they've got to be very careful about the coast of Nevada. When everything west goes into the ocean, a mudslide is going to guard the coast of Nevada. But, you know, these are not very uplifting times. I mean, happy days are not here again, even though the Democrats are in. And when you come to church, what you don't need is more bad news. You just don't need more bad news. And when somebody can say, and it's okay before the big trouble comes, you know, you're not going to be here. Just get your line on, Jesus. You're going to be caught up in everything. It's a very plausible, practical way to keep people's spirits up. And, you know, I hope you realize I'm not putting this in a bad frame. It became understandable to me how all of a sudden I could picture myself sitting and listening to this and thinking, wow, that is a happy thought. That's a happy thought. There's one major problem with it. It's not scriptural. That's the biggest problem. But then the idea is this. You know, do you know something? Let me say this as a side thought here. If all of a sudden, picture this in your mind. Every preacher in the United States rose up and said the pre-tribulation rapture teaching is false. Just imagine what do you think would be the impact on Christian people? Picture it. Well, let me look at it this way. Let's say that you had a lawsuit. That you're going to have to have a court case that's coming up within a month. It was way more than your insurance could possibly cover and it was going to wipe you out. Your savings, your home, everything was going to wipe you out. And you've all had times of dread when you were looking forward to something dreadful, whether it was an operation or a lawsuit or jail time or whatever, court appearance. Something that you really dreaded. Now, what do you tend to do as a Christian? What do you tend to do? How does that affect you? It drives you to prayer. It kind of knocks the silliness out of you because as you're going about all day, back in your mind is this dread. I mean, the days get dark. I mean, they're no longer sunny in the morning. You know, when you get up, you think, oh God, you know, that's coming up this 29 more days and I don't know what's going to happen. This can happen from a biopsy or anything like that. It just changes your whole life. If you're a Christian, it makes you sober and prayerful. Now, let's say somebody comes along and says it's not to worry because before that day comes, you're going to be in paradise. How will that impact you? Well, you won't be on your knees praying. Take off your armor. Just meditate on that. What would happen to the church in America if the pre-tribulation rapture teaching disappeared? What kind of an impact? Would it make God's people more holy? Would it make them more serious? What would it do? And if your answer comes up with something that is godly, then you know the origin of the doctrine. If the impact tends to be negative in terms of the Bible, then you know the source of the doctrine. If it tends to disarm people and keep them from really buckling down, then you know the source of the doctrine. Now, let me approach this something else. What then does God, if that isn't our hope, if our hope is not to get caught out of here before we get anthrax dumped on us, or get shelled by nuclear subs from the Atlantic and the Pacific and over Alaska, as the prophets have said, America is going to burn, if it isn't our hope that we're going to be out of here, and God doesn't want us gloomy, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, what kind of an orientation to the future does God want us to have, and why? And the answer to that is this. The purpose of this whole redemption, the whole salvation, is not to take us to heaven, it's not to take us to heaven, that's not its purpose. It is to bring the kingdom of God into the earth, to bring righteousness and justice and healing into the earth. That's the purpose. In order for that purpose to be fulfilled, we have to be living unto Jesus and doing God's will, because you see, this is when this will begin, is here. So we've got to prepare ourselves. We've got to go through judgment now with the Lord. I mean, when we hear of the fire and life of God, we've got to press into it. We've got to count our life as over. Our new life as God. And the purpose of that is so that it will prepare us to help install the kingdom of God on the earth. So it's an altogether different orientation to the future. Now, on top of that is this. Once you enter into that with all your heart, your hope for the future is just as joyous, just as joyous, fully as joyous as the person who is looking for escape. It's just the joy coming along a different way. It's the joy of knowing that you're growing in the Lord and He's coming and you're going to be ready and you're going to be able to minister and then you can see the victories in your life as you overcome cigarettes and alcohol and immorality and violence and you see, whereas maybe a year ago you would do a burn on people now they can't do that to you you just have got the grace to ride over it and respond. And you see that growth in yourself. It's a whole different kind of joy than the joy of I won't be here. The joy of escape. It's the joy of knowing that no matter what happens economic collapse, famine war, I'm with the Lord and there's no problem. So, if we enter wholly into the Lord we have just as much joy but it's a more mature joy than the relatively infantile joy of I won't be here so nothing can touch me which is completely self-centered you know it's a joy that let them come the Lord and I are ready for them it's the joy of victory, it's the song of the victorious saint so it's an infinitely better viewpoint orientation to the future and on top of that it's entirely scriptural. So, we're not going to be able to get the message to the churches overnight but it's getting there little by little it's getting there just about every day either somebody signs up and the people that sign up by and large are shakers, they're movers that affect many people so God is putting into the blood stream of his body is just beginning a little bit of this third wave of tabernacles of knowing Christ in the fullness of his power and being prepared for whatever why if we die and we kill we march right into victory there's no escape to it we don't need to escape what do we need to escape? let antichrist do what he wants to Christ is greater bring him on, there's nothing he's going to do when Jesus rose from the dead he didn't have to ascend to escape trouble he was on the you know how long it was it was after he was raised before he ascended 40 days he didn't have to ascend to escape trouble and we don't have to be raptured to escape trouble what we have to do is attain the resurrection and once you attain that resurrection antichrist can't touch you tribulation can't touch you nothing can touch you and nothing can touch us now if we live under the 91st song because we have God's word God's backing you abide in me it's not going to hurt you it's a mature orientation, would you agree to that? as opposed to practicing for the rapture by jumping up and down next to your pew a better practice for the rapture would be practice forgiving people or practice giving a kind answer when someone talks to you maliciously that's a much better preparation for the rapture than jumping up and down next to your chair well everybody doesn't know that but maybe they should now let's go along and see what he says about this first marriage which remember is the first fruits of the bride let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come, now it sounds there like it's the whole bride, but it isn't it's the first fruits of the bride because the other marriage is the New Jerusalem for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready, and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints and that's what you were talking about young men what's your name? Michael that's what you were talking about to clothe their own behavior, and he said to me right, blessed what old preacher that wasn't that skillful in English and he was saying they're blessed he said they're right blessed that was all right he got the point across but the idea is not R-I-G-H-T but W-R-I-T-E they're right blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb now that's not the bride you don't invite the bride to the marriage supper anybody ever go to a wedding where the bride was invited to the marriage supper? it's people who are invited to the marriage supper that means here that means when the bride here is arrayed, the nations are going to come, Isaiah 60 they'll come from all over the place to see the glory of God that has come upon the bride yes? I've heard it taught that the marriage supper is the time in which those that are raptured spend seven years upon thee, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee and then you read about all the nations are coming and bringing their children and bringing everything to the light of God in the saints yes? is this before the coming of the Lord or after? it's in conjunction with the coming of the Lord it comes together and you see that in the days of Noah that before the rain came from above the fountains of the deep were broken up so the glory will come upon the church and then it will appear overhead so that when the church goes up it will be like one blinding light that's why it says that the coming of the Lord will be as the lightning shines from the east to the west that will be the lightning in the saints the saints coming in glory and the saints on earth, it will be one massive light and again the Jews had it when they celebrate the feast of tabernacles not now, but when they used to celebrate it they'd all come up to Jerusalem carrying torches and when they got up to the temple area, the whole temple area was one massive light that again was the Jews with their instinct for God's truth showing what's going to be happening Barry? does that also mean the manifestation of the sons of God? what? saying it's happening now in no way is that happening I love people like that they're just so discontented with the dryness in the church and they get off into these things I can't have a hard attitude toward them but no, the manifestation of the sons of God is not in the church age in the church age we have the gifts of the spirit and we have prayer, and we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit and we bear witness but once, at the time of the coming of the Lord the church age is over we go into the kingdom age yes? is it true that the nationalist doctrines really kind of belong those who believe it's prior to the pre-millennials? no, the pre-millennial teaching is simply that we believe that Christ will come before the millennials there's pre-millennial and post-millennial some believe that he will not come until the end of the thousand year period and that we will set up the kingdom before he comes but in this church, we are pre-millennials we believe the Lord will come before the millennials and that's the tradition that's post-millennialism that's reconstructionism no, we do not believe that we do not believe we're going to set up the kingdom without the Lord no, we believe in an apocalyptic appearance of Jesus that he will come in fury to set up his kingdom with great power which is the traditional evangelical stance we're very orthodox actually we're orthodox but we're just getting in and explaining all the details of what most evangelicals believe in theory that Christ will come and rule in David and we'll be ever with the Lord but then they say, but we're up in a mansion see, they're inconsistent we believe traditionally all the way so, this is the point at which the great light will come upon the saints you see that in Revelation 11 where they stand up on their feet and they hear a voice saying, come up here but there will be a period of time there when people will see that and that's when Jesus said in John 17 that they may be one that the world may believe and when we are one with God and Jesus and people see that glory they will come and so they're blessed because they've come to celebrate the marriage that's how the nations keep the Feast of Tabernacles not by living in booths but by coming up to celebrate the fact that God in Jesus is tabernacling in his saints yes one more question are people confusing the manifestation of the sons of God with lateral raising yes and with the two witnesses they're confusing the end time revival you'll hear people say God is raising up an army well, they get that all confused with Joel's army Joel's army is the manifestation of the sons of God the army that God is raising up now is merely an expression concerning he's going to be raising up anointed people under great power to bear witness of the gospel so it's a gospel army that God is raising up now it's a gospel army God has an army marching through the land then they get that confused with Joel's army no, that's Armageddon Joel's army is Armageddon that's a supernatural visitation when Christ comes right over there on that standard there, that banner that's Joel's army that's the manifestation of the sons of God when Christ comes at the head of his army that banner is faithful and true it's Christ coming on his white horse and that is we're coming to that in just a couple of minutes and we're about through here so don't collapse are you frozen? good, alright, now many are frozen alright, blessed are those who are invited no, few are frozen few are frozen Larry Peggy yeah, you know Peggy's got her coat on, Jeannie's over there with icicles on her nose alright, now I was giving her to clothe herself and finally blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb and those are the peoples of the earth who will come to celebrate the glory of God in the church yes compare this to a day of 60 and also to Matthew the sheep and goat is talking about judgment it's when the Lord comes in his glory this is not talking about judgment Isaiah 60 is not talking about judgment it's talking about the peoples of the earth coming to celebrate the fact that Christ has come into his people this is a gala time I mean for Jesus, oh because this is where he'll be reconciled to the Jews and those that pierced him shall weep for him as for an only son Jesus is looking forward to this you know, that's another thing to think about when you're considering should I go into the fire of God or should I out of fear kind of shrink back and take second best you're denying Jesus it is his joy that you press forward into the best I mean it's a love thing with Jesus and he loves you, but the question is do you love him and if so, how much enough to really go all the way you know so I think for eternity the people that make this will always have a special place in the Lord's heart now he has a much larger church the whole new Jerusalem but this is the one mentioned in the 6th chapter of the Song of Solomon my beloved is one the only one of her mother there's wives and concubines and all of this but my beloved is one and as terrible as an army with banners that's this group here this is well worth going for I mean, what in life can be compared to the glory that will be revealed when Jesus comes yes you will you will not have the privilege of dying you'll be changed on your feet your flesh and blood metabolism the metabolic processes of digestion based on blood will just all change through a metabolism driven by the Holy Spirit the people that come on that earth will be flesh and blood people it will be like when Jesus was here could appear and disappear we will be among flesh and blood people judging them, ruling them guiding them, blessing them helping them and also the rest of the church see the rest of the church I mean most church people would die way down the pike so we will have more work and we know what to do with it's described the attitude of people is described in Isaiah 61 and they describe these people and they say oh they're ministers of our God well sure you can tell because they've got three names that are engraved in them the name of God, Christ's new name and the name of the new Jerusalem are engraved on every one of these people and they're moving among men oh those are the priests of the Lord they're the seed that God has blessed Isaiah 61 they rebuild the old place people get used to anything people get used to anything that's our minister he's not quite like we are but he's a good dude seems crazy but that's what happened that's what happened when Jesus was here he was among flesh and blood people 500 people saw him at once before he ascended he was here you know that's a wonderful thing to be able to appear and disappear at will and not feel any tiredness or sickness or death or all energy all power this is well worth going for when you compare this world but really the greatest thing of all in my mind is the joy it will give Jesus he's been waiting 2,000 years and see we will be with him like Joseph when he's reconciled to his family he will be Joseph and we'll be the Gentile bride Esna that Joseph married an Egyptian we'll be like that Esna that bride of Joseph the Gentile when he's reconciled to his brothers wonderful things coming up Bobby? most of the churches have already died so they're coming back the rest of the church you want to remember that they are in the spirit realm and that the first fruits have total access to the spirit realm total access they're not bound to the earth at all they are just like Jesus they have total access to both realms and they will be instructing the balance of the church we went over that Sunday night Song of Solomon the 8th chapter if we have a sister and she's not fruitful and will build life you want to get that tape we went over that very carefully how this group of the church works with the rest of the church yes in Song of Solomon the 8th chapter we went over that very carefully we're about through here alright so here you see the people coming and you'll read in Zechariah and it says the nation that will not come up and keep the Feast of Tabernacles there'll be no rain on them well how do they come up and keep it? they come up by coming up to Jerusalem and partaking of the glory of God from the saints in whom God is dwelling that's how they observe the Feast of Tabernacles that's in Zechariah alright these are true words of God and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said to me do not do that I am a fellow servant of yours it sounds here like this angel see there's people angels and spirit angels and it sounds like this may have been a people angel because the word angel only means messenger and so this could have been a people angel because it says I am a fellow servant of yours and your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy when we have the testimony of Jesus we're moving in the prophetic realm that's where the spirit is always testifying of Jesus and then of course what do you see? heaven open a white horse he who sat upon it is called faithful and true isn't that interesting faithful remember those who were with him are called and chosen and faithful faithfulness is big with God the two adjectives God picks out faithful and true and that's important because it's important to us that Christ is faithful and important to us that he's true what if he weren't faithful? what if he weren't true? when you really get out there hung out on a limb for Jesus and decide to go all the way with Jesus it becomes terribly important that Jesus is faithful and true when you're kind of living half in and half out and hedging your bets you know well I'll give it some but I'm keeping back some for myself it doesn't matter to you well if he's faithful and true fine but when you've got it all out there I mean when he is your whole life and he's all you got and if he isn't faithful and true I mean you are done you're living on betting on the fact that he is faithful and he is true and in righteousness he judges and wages war now he doesn't judge here his saints they already were judged during their lifetime his eyes are as a flame of fire and upon his head and many diadems and he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself now there's a reason for that and he says he gives us a new name which no one knows saving he that receives it so there's things there's transactions when you get into the Lord and begin to serve him and really mean business and the years go by and you get intimate with God there's transactions that you can't tell other people about there's things that God reveals like Paul said inexpressible words they're just not in the realm that you discuss with other people and so the Lord has his name you have your name and all that's that's your business and that's his business alright and he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and Isaiah says he has garments of stain with the blood of war but I still think this is the blood of the land the blood from the cross because the wrath of God at this point is going to be so outrageous that in spite of the fact that these saints are righteous and in spite of the fact that Christ is coming in righteousness the wrath of God from the rebellion of the angels has never been expressed this is when God expresses the wrath that he feels about the actions of Satan and Satan inspired people and it's so awesome it's so beyond description God is so contained he can contain wrath he doesn't say never get angry he wants us to be able to control ourselves and behave righteously even when we're angry God is capable of savage anger but he controls it until the time is right and when that thing is unleashed upon the creation it says the blood will run for 300 miles to the death of a horse's bridle 300 miles pure wrath and it's not redeeming wrath this isn't the great tribulation this is the wrath of God and it's non-redemptive it's purely destructive it's the unleashing of his anger over the aborting of fetuses and the rape of his creation and the injury to children and the injury to old people and the dishonesty and the supplanting and the lying and the guile and the hatred and it's all stored up he doesn't forget anything he has total recall and all of a sudden the cork comes out of the bottle and I think for that reason that the blood the blood is there to remind God of Calvary so that everybody doesn't die amen well tell me something do you think it's worthwhile you know the problem is you can't deal you can't say well now let's see if I don't go so hard at it and I'll wait till over here and I'm not such a bad person because the preacher said God's not anxious to throw me into the lake there's a problem with that and that is you're not judged on an even equation you're judged according to what you've been given and you know these things that we've discussed tonight you'll be held responsible for them and if you don't go all the way with God and you stand before God God will say but you knew so very few people knew my will and you knew what did you esteem more about it you're going to have egg on your face put it wildly so now you know so you've been put on notice and you've got to go for it shall we stand whether you like it or not you're done, you're cooked you have had it big time Lord we know that's the way you operate you always have and I guess you always will you just work with a few and Lord these things are clear there's no ambiguity there's no confusion and so Lord here we are in a nation that has turned its back on God and prospects worldwide are not the greatest for us or the Jews for many other nations but Lord there's something that you have shown us the meaning of life and the meaning of why you do things, what you're doing and what the future holds we appreciate that Lord and I pray for each one of us Lord without exception and I pray for each one of us without exception that from this point forward we will have a clear a clear ringing will of any compromise as we weigh the glory of God against the lust of the flesh oh God against this world Lord we will not be so foolish and short sighted that we would say well I don't know I just don't know I'm afraid of hell but to be a burning with a shining light we don't want to miss it so Lord just put such a desire oh God with no shadow turning or blending we love you Lord and we want to make Jesus happy looking forward to the day when Israel sees theirness oh God help us on this crazy channel right Lord oh Lord we love you